The Complications of Friendship
by ZahlzStar
Summary: AU, We all know and love Amy but I decided to change it up, I give you, Amerson, Amy's male equivalent. In case anyone finds it hard picturing OCs, Amerson looks like Caleb Ruminer, Crash from Finding Carter. Karma decides that Amerson needs a girlfriend, but none of the girls are interested, so she decides to fake-date him to make the other girls see what they are missing.
1. Chapter 1

*Karma's POV*

"Ams,Ams, Amerson, Amy," That one gets him and Amerson looks up at me with annoyance on his face.

"You know I hate it when you call me Amy," he replies and I grin at him.

"I could call you Ass if you'd like," All I get out of him is a glare this time.

"Anyway, what were you thinking about? You were totally out of it," I ask and I swear his cheeks turn a shade redder than they were.

"What? Nothing, I wasn't thinking about anything," Amerson replies a little too quickly.

I don't buy it but I laugh and toss a skittle at him, "Okay weirdo,"

Amerson sees it coming and catches the skittle before popping it into his mouth and turning his attention to his phone.

"Are you texting your girlfriend?" I tease and he rolls his eyes before looking up at me again.

"You know I don't have a girlfriend Karms," Amerson's tone is exasperated but his face holds a hint of a smile.

"So who are you texting then?"

"I'm texting Oliver,"

"Oh, so your boyfriend then?" I ask innocently.

"Oh my God," Amerson groans in frustration, "I do not have a significant other alright, at least no one besides you,"

I'm having too much fun to let this go just yet, "Okay, okay, not your boyfriend. Perhaps he's simply a snuggle buddy then," I let out a little shriek of laughter as Amerson lunges at me.

"That's it," Amerson yells before pinning me beneath his tall frame and tickling me. I can't contain my giggling and I'm about to call mercy but there in a knock on my door. In an instant Amerson rolls off of me and lands beside me on my bed as my mother opens the door and walks in. She must catch sight of our flushed faces because she lets out a sigh,

"Karma, I told you that your father and I have no problem with your choice of intimacy but you really need to put something out to warn us,"

Amerson's eye widen as he realizes what she means but before he can form a sentence I jump in and respond, "It's okay Mom, we weren't doing anything intimate. If we were I would put a scarf on the door knob,"

Amerson goes an even darker shade of red and blurts out, "Not that we are, we aren't. We are just friend, best friends, but friends. There is no intimacy here, nothing intimate,"

My mother has a look of sympathetic understanding, "Relax sweetie, I'm not judging the two of you at all,"

Amerson is speechless as she smiles again and leaves my room.

"Well that's great; your parents think I am up here doing unspeakable things to their daughter. Zen's gonna kill me with some forming of peaceful punishment if he finds out,"

Amerson rolls over and buries his head into the pillow before grumbling, "Fan-freaking-tastic,"

"On the plus side, if you were doing unspeakable things to me my parents would be cool with it," I roll on my side and place my hand on his, admittedly muscular, back in an attempt to make him feel better.

"Great, that makes me feel so much better," Amerson turns his head on the side and looks at me, I swear he tensed when my hand touched him but I just shrug it off as my imagination.

"You know, if you had a girlfriend there wouldn't be any confusion about the intimacy of our friendship,"

"My God Karma, what is with you and me getting a girlfriend? I'll get one when I get one," Amerson raises his voice and for a moment I can hear real anger in his voice but he closes his eyes for a second and when he reopens them he is back to his usual flippant self.

"Sorry, it just gets repetitive after a while," Amerson apologizes.

"It's fine, I just thought that maybe if you got a girlfriend I could work up the courage to really go after Liam. You never know, if it all worked out we could all go on a double date or something," I respond in a quiet voice.

"Oh yes, because I'd just love to spend some time with _him_," Amerson's response is heavy with sarcasm but there is a hint of bitterness in there as well.

"Why do you always do that when I mention Liam?" I ask in exasperation and Amerson looks at me for a moment.

"We've been over this Karma; I just don't like the guy. Something about him just makes me uncomfortable; he doesn't strike me as a good guy," Amerson sighs, tired of this conversation already.

"From what I've heard he's actually a really nice guy. He's caring and tolerant and he's an artist," My mind travels to the first day I saw him, he didn't actually talk to me but I swear he smiled at me.

"An artist, please, he probably spends his time in the art room whacking away at something with a hammer every time something doesn't go his way," Amerson scoffs and I decide it's time to change the subject.

"Shane Harvey is having a party tomorrow night, do you wanna go?" I ask hopefully and Amerson fixes me with a look.

"No, I don't. Not at all," Amerson replies dryly. Instead of responding I give him a look and he sighs, "Can't we just stay home and watch Skins?"

"Kathryn Prescott and Lily Loveless are total babes, but we need to get out there and make friends if we ever want to be popular," I point out and he rolls his eyes at me.

"I think you'll find I don't want to be popular, I'm quite content to spend my weekends eating junk food and watching TV shows with my best friend."

"Come on Ams, just do this for me please?" I pull out the pout and I see his resistance crumble before me.

"Fine," Amerson mumbles while still managing to look annoyed.

"Yes, you're the best Amy," I can't contain my excitement and I pull him into a hug before kissing him on the cheek. He definitely tenses this time.

"I know I am," Amerson murmurs in response after a moment.

"What am I going to wear?" I ask after I pull away from the hug, "What are you gonna wear?"

"I'm wearing my donut shirt, and I don't give a damn what anyone says about it. If I have to go and be around our drunken, sex-crazed peers I'm going to be comfortable while I do it," Amerson responds in certainty and I know there is no point in arguing with him. When it comes to food based clothing, it is an argument that he will always win. If anything I should be grateful that he doesn't want to wear his bacon sweats, although I'll admit he does look rather good in them.

"I'm saying this now and I mean it, I am not playing Spin the Bottle," Amerson states and I'm pulled from my thoughts of how good his clothing looks on him.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't put you through that. If the party sucks we can just go home and the emotional struggle that is Emily and Naomi,"

"Yeah?" Amerson asks quietly.

"Yeah," I reply just as quietly.

_**Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating a whole lot lately, I've been sick and I also have not been able to finish a chapter for any of my stories to save my life. I decided to start a new one so I could get something new out there to make up for how slack I have been. I had the idea for this story after I was sent a prompt, I altered it quite a bit but the idea stuck with me. If you are having trouble picturing Amerson (the male version of Amy) I decided to base him off of Caleb Ruminer, he plays Crash on Finding Carter and was the closest I could find for Amy's male equivalent. Shoutout to my new friend, Ghirahim is Fabulous for helping me out with the naming process, your suggestions were definitely creative. I hope you guys like this, and I hope I will be able to start updating frequently again. Anywho, enjoy. -Zahli**_


	2. Chapter 2

*Amerson's POV*

"I'm gonna go get us something to drink," Karma places her hand on my thigh for a second to catch my attention before springing up from her seat. I watch as she quickly disappears into the crowd and I'm left sitting in the middle of the party on my own.

_I really need to stop saying 'yes' to Karma, _I think to myself and scoff. _Yeah, that's gonna happen. _

Karma is taking a suspiciously long time getting the drinks and the room is rapidly increasing in population. I think I last about 30 seconds before I can't take it anymore, getting up from the couch I fiddle with my shirt to straighten it out and walk out a set of glass doors in the backyard. I'll give Shane props, the guy got a jumping castle for this party and if it was so heavily occupied i probably would have gone for a bounce. Deciding to instead sit down on a couch I'm quite content to sit in silence but Shane walks runs up and playfully whacks me on the leg.

"Hey, having fun?" Shane is way too enthusiastic for my liking but i smile at him anyway.

"So much fun," I respond dryly.

"Where's your girlfriend?" Shane asks curiously and I raise my eyebrow at him in confusion.

"Do you mean Karma?"

"Duh, who else?" Shane has a smirk on his face but before I can correct him about the state of my friendship with Karma he speaks again.

"Just tell, how did you make it out of the friendzone?"

"Come again?" I'm genuinely confused at this point, knowing full well that I'm still firmly in the zone of friends.

"Did you make the first move or did she?" Shane is getting more and more excited while I'm simply becoming more and more uncomfortable.

"I won't tell anyone, Gay Scout's honour," Shane holds up a hand with his fingers crossed and I stand up abruptly.

"Thanks again for the party, I need to not be here right now," I tell him and hurry off before he has time to say anything. In my rush I accidentally run into a girl and narrowly avoid getting my donut shirt soaked with beer, thankfully she only spills her drink on my jeans.

"Oh God, I'm sorry," the girl apologizes immediately when she catches sight of my newly soaked jeans.

"It's fine," I assure her and try to wipe the worst of the mess off with my hands.

"Here let me help you," the girl offers and I can tell she means well but I stop he before her hands get too close.

"I appreciate the concern but I think this situation will be a little bit awkward if your hands venture any closer to my um, business," I level my gaze on the girl's, admittedly attractive face and watch as understanding dawns and she goes red.

"Oh gosh," the girl mumbles more to herself than to me.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna head to the bathroom and try and mop this up," I tell her and she nods quickly.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Sorry again," the girl apologizes and I give her a smile before heading back inside in search of the bathroom. I try unsuccessfully to dry my jeans but after a solid five minutes I give up and start to look for Karma. To my relief I find her sitting on a couch, the relief is short lived though because I see that she is sitting next to _him_.

"Karma, I think I've about reached my patience with this party," I deliberately ignore Pretty Boy and focus solely on Karma. I'm waiting for a response but I notice her attention is focused downwards.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't stare Karms," I say after clearing my throat to capture her attention.

"What happened?" Karma asks after a moment, she too had to clear her throat and shake her head a little bit before speaking. Before I can respond he speaks and I'm reminded of his presence,

"Raudenfeld, have a little accident did we?" he asks with a smirk and I fix him with one of my own.

"Indeed I did Booker, I heard the shit you were spouting and I was so busy laughing I accidentally spilt my drink all over myself," I reply and his smirk is replaced with a scowl.

Karma giggles a little bit and I take her hand before tugging her onto her feet and making my way through the newly gathered crowd in the living room. I don't let go of her hand until I have put distance between us and Booker. Unfortunately I realize too late that Shane is giving a speech and before I know it Karma and I are being pulled into the middle of the circle of people.

"I'd like to congratulate Amerson here for making it out of the friendzone," Shane snakes in between us and holds up our hands as the crowd applauds.

"That takes real guts, and I think that's the type of guy we need for our Homecoming King. Who's with me?" Shane calls out and everyone breaks out in cheers of agreement. In the corner of my eye I see Lauren scowling at the edge of the circle, after a second though I see a smirk cross her face and I can tell she has something planned that will no doubt. I'm pulled from my thought s when the crowd starts chanting my name I and turn to Karma who has a sheepish look on her face; although I can tell she is enjoying the newfound attention.

"I told you we shouldn't have come," I yell to her just to be heard over the noise of our peers.

"I blame you for that," I grumble as I lay back on Karma's bed.

"Well, at least now they know our names," Karma says hopefully but I just shoot her a look.

"Why would they think that we are dating?" I ask in exasperation.

"Well we do spend a lot of time together," Karma points out and I just sigh.

"We are best friends; of course we spend a lot of time together. Thank God the voting age is 18, teenagers are idiots,"

I get up from the bed a retrieve a new shirt and a pair of sweats from my bag before walking to the corner of the room. Facing away from Karma I strip off my shirt and step out of my now beer scented jeans, before pulling on my sweats. I don't put on my shirt just yet but I have it in my hands as I turn around to speak to Karma again, "You know, your parents are surprisingly okay with me staying over all the time,"

I swear Karma's eyes linger on my torso before she brings her gaze to meet mine and shrugs, "I think they think we are dating as well,"

"That's just great," I reply dryly, although my voice is slightly muffled as I tug my shirt down over my head and make my way over to the bed and lay down.

"Oh well, it just means that I get you as a pillow," Karma replies and immediately tucks herself under my arm. I grumble a little bit when she slips her cold hands up under my shirt and onto my stomach but she just snuggles closer to me.

"Night Karms," I mumble, and reach over to turn of the lamp on the bedside table.

"Night Ams," Karma returns quietly, her voice already heavy with drowsiness.

_**Hey guys, I know it's only been like a day since the last chapter but I'm really enjoying writing this story and I couldn't help but update another chapter. Sorry it's a bit on the short side again, it's getting late and I have school tomorrow. Once again shoutout to Ghirahim is Fabulous for the encouragement and support every time I don't feel like writing. I hope you guys are liking Amerson so far, I know I am; I have quite a few plans for him. Hopefully the chapters will be longer later on. Anywho, enjoy. -Zahli**_


	3. Chapter 3

*Karma's POV*

"Ams, wake up. Amerson, Amy, Ass," So far my attempts to wake him are unsuccessful and the best I've gotten is light grumbling.

"Am, I've got donuts," I whisper into his ear in a last ditch attempt, funnily enough his eyes shoot open.

"Donuts?" Amerson mumbles in a sleepy voice.

"Yeah, donuts. Now sit up for me big guy," I coax and he sits up, a hand trying to smooth his unruly blonde hair.

"Karma, have donuts?" Amerson typically reverts to the mental ability of a 3 year old in the morning but he has a heart of gold and if I didn't know better I'd say that was made of donuts, considering how much he loves them.

"Sorry sweetie, I don't actually have donuts," I say in an apologetic tone and he lets out a groan before attempting to lie back down. I'm too quick for him though and move my arms behind him to keep him up.

"I thought it'd be a good idea if we went and got coffee before school, so I had to get you up a little bit early," I tell him and he turns to look at the time.

"A little bit?! My alarm isn't meant to go off for another hour Karma," Amerson yells in alarm when he realizes what time it is.

"Like I said, coffee. Now come on, once you get in the shower you'll feel so much better," I encourage and he grumbles before getting up and heading towards the bathroom.

After 10 minutes or so Amerson emerges from the bathroom wearing a pair of jeans, his hair is still wet and every few seconds droplets of water fall onto his bare torso. It really does puzzle me why he doesn't have a girlfriend; the boy really has a lot going for him. Hell, most of the guys at our school would kill for a body like that, and he really does nothing to maintain it. It's not until Amerson pulls on a tight fitting thermal sweater that I realize I was staring, he doesn't seem to notice though as he sits down on the bed and sets about putting on his favourite combat boots.

"See, don't you feel much better now?" I ask after clearing my throat. Amerson just turns to give me a look that doesn't require words, once his point has been made Amerson slides his phone into the front pocket of his book bag and grabs his keys.

"Let's go then, shall we?"

Luckily it's only a five minute drive to the cafe because I think Amerson is still a little cranky that I woke him up early. As we enter the cafe I see quite a few people turn to look at us, it's not a brief glance though; these people are openly looking at us.

"I'll go find us a table, you go order," I suggest and Amerson nods, looking rather uneasy at our new found attention.

Once Amerson is headed towards the counter I look for, before long I spot one in the corner and head towards it but I'm cut off as two girls in my grade step in front of me.

"Your boyfriend is so hot, I can't believe it's taken you guys this long to make it official," One of the girls say as she looks over towards Amerson.

"Yeah, I if were you I would have jumped him ages ago, but then again you probably already have," the other girl adds on.

"Um, we're not," Before I can fully respond the two girls turn their attention somewhere else and disappear back to their own table while I'm left standing there, slightly stunned. I shake my head and walk towards the table again taking a seat and waiting for Amerson to bring back our drinks.

It doesn't take long before he walks over with my vanilla latte in one hand and a choc caramel milkshake in the other.

"I think there are more people that think we are dating than we thought," I say before taking a sip of my drink.

"Tell me about it, some guy just gave me a high five and asked 'if I hit that yet'," Amerson replies and makes his voice sound deeper to impersonate whoever it was he was talking about.

"Hopefully by the time we get to school there will be something more interesting for people to talk about," I offer and Amerson nods.

"Yeah, hopefully,"

Boy were we wrong, as soon as we got out of the car we had people walking up to us and offering baked goods. Not that Amerson didn't love it, he is a sucker for free baked goods but it is still really weird. We were almost away from the crowd before we are stopped by the sight in front of us. A giant banner is hanging from the wall and on it is a big ass picture of Amerson and I, below the picture is the words, _Vote Karmerson for Homecomin_g_._

"What the hell is Karmerson?" Amerson asks, his voice actually sounds slightly terrifying.

"Ams, I think that's our ship name," My voice is just as terrified and Amerson turns to me before speaking again.

"Karms, please tell me we didn't become Hester's newest OTP,"

"Hey look, there's Hester's newest OTP," Shane Harvey's voice calls from behind us and the people that have crowded around let out a little cheer.

"Oh no," Amerson mumbles and I bring I smile to my face before turning to face Shane.

"Just go with it," I say under my breath before greeting Shane.

"Hey there, how is my favourite friend zone survivor doing today?" Shane asks, though his attention is directed towards Amerson.

"Uh, I'm um great. What's with the banner?" Amerson asks and gestures towards the giant thing drawing all sorts of attention to it.

"It's the best way to convince people to vote for you guys for Homecoming," Shane explains with a shrug before continuing, " There are a couple all over the school,"

"That's great," Amerson replies in a fake cheery tone but he shoots me a look that I can barely return before Shane speaks again.

"At this rate, you guys are a shoe in for king and queen. Lauren is going to flip when she sees that you guys already have more support than she does,"

"Oh crap, Lauren is not going to shut up about it if we actually win. She will probably hate me even more than she already does," Amerson scrunches up his face in discomfort.

"Is that even possible?" I wonder out loud and Amerson shoots me a look telling me that he is not at all amused.

"Anyway, I've things I need to do so I'll catch up with you guys later," Shanes tells us before turning and heading off somewhere.

"This is going to be torture," Amerson lets out a groan but as I'm about to respond I see him tense up. Following his gaze I understand why, none other than Liam Booker himself is headed over to me and Amerson looks about as impressed as he would if someone decided to remove donuts from the school's vending machines.

"Karma, hey there," Liam says as he gives me his signature smile, dimples on full display. It's only a small movement but Amerson moves closer to me before straightening his shoulders and turning to Liam, "Booker,"

_**Hey guys, it really has been a while. I've been a bit busy with a speaking competition and with my town having its annual festival so I haven't really been writing much. I know bits of the story seem a little unrealistic so far but stick with me; hopefully I'll get somewhere shortly. On the plus side, I updated two stories today so I hope that makes up for the lack of updates. Anywho, enjoy. –Zahli**_


	4. Chapter 4

*Amerson's POV*

"Raudenfeld, I've been hearing your name quite a bit this morning. What is it they have been calling you two? Karmerson, Kamerson? I didn't think you had it in you, Raudenfeld, but public recognition looks good on you. Speaking of looking good, how are you doing today Miss Karma?" Liam is wearing is usual self-assured smirk when he is talking to me, but flips the switch when he looks at Karma and is all charming smiles and dimples.

"Hi Liam," Karma responds and I notice she gives him the smile that is normally reserved only for me.

_Seriously, he just got here and already he is getting 'The Smile'? _

Booker is trying to move in on my Karma and is getting my smile, _Like hell._

Karma is too caught up in staring at Liam that when I move closer and thread my fingers through her and pull her lightly closer to me she looks down in surprise.

"So sorry, Liam, but my _girlfriend _and I need to be going," I interrupt them and Liam's jaw clenches in annoyance for a second before his charming smile is back in full swing.

"Of course, I'll catch up with you later Karma, I think Amerson is feeling a little bit insecure," Liam winks at Karma and sends a smirk my way. I open my mouth to tell Liam to go shove it but I stop when I feel Karma give an urgent squeeze where our hands are still interlocked. I look down at Karma and I see the pleading in her eyes for me to just let it slide, closing my mouth and forcing a polite smile I Liam I watch as he sends Karma one more smile and saunters off.

"What an ass," I mutter to myself and I catch Karma glaring at me.

"Amerson, can we go somewhere private please?" Karma tone is too polite and I can tell I'm in trouble.

"As you wish," I sigh before leading her over to some a tree near the edge of where I believe the school has a yoga room, or a dance studio; I never can be bothered to keep up with the constantly changing Hester High.

"What the hell was that?" Karma asks, quite visibly pissed.

"What was what?" My false innocence only serves to make her angrier.

"Don't even try and play dumb. What the hell was with the macho, alpha male bullshit?"

"He was hitting on you, I was just making sure he understood that you weren't on the market," I shrug and judging from the look on her face it probably wasn't the right way to go about it.

"Maybe I was enjoying it, and what gives you the right to make that decision anyway?" Karma responds and I scoff at her.

"I'm your _boyfriend_ remember?" I reply dryly and I'm pretty sure her eye twitches a little bit.

"Maybe to them Amerson, but in reality you are miles away from being my boyfriend," Karma retorts and I'll admit it stings a little.

"Oh yes, after all I'm not your type am I? I'm not all broody and artistic like Mr _I'm so deep and wounded_," I wave hands in front of me to emphasize my point.

"You know you're right, you aren't my type. Last time I checked I wasn't into jealous, self righteous assholes,"

"Look, I'm sorry, I just really don't like that guy; I guess he brings out the worst in me. This whole fake dating thing has just got me on edge; can't we just go back to the way things used to be?" I ask in a soft voice and Karma just shakes her head at me slightly.

"What if I don't want to go back?" Karma responds and I'm taken back by her blatant refusal.

"Then good luck finding a new boyfriend," I reply before turning to walk off.

"Wait, Amerson," Karma calls out to me but I don't look back.

It's a good hour or two before Karma finds me, "Don't jump,"

"Don't flatter yourself," I respond dryly as she walks closer towards the edge of the rooftop, lets out a little squeak and sits down.

"How did you find me?"

"I knew you'd find the tallest building at this school because you know I'm scared of heights," Karma explains and I smile a little bit.

"I'm sorry, Ams. I just liked the attention I guess, but if it means i have to neglect my best friend then it isn't worth it. Please forgive me?" Karma looks genuinely guilty but her little pout at the end breaks me.

"I guess it wasn't all bad, I did receive a lot of free baked goods," I shrug and she smiles at me.

"Look if this popular thing really makes you happy, then I'm going to help you," I sigh but I've settled on the idea now.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Karma asks in a hopeful tone.

"Karma, wanna be my girlfriend?" I ask and she squeals and pulls me into a hug.

"I'm so excited, but I can't move; we may need a crane,"

"Karma Ashcroft and Amerson Raudenfeld," Principle Penelope calls out our names and Karma grabs my hand before we walk out in front of our entire school. Everyone in the audience bursts to life when they see us and Karma smiles and me, clearly loving the spotlight.

Before we actually have much of a chance to do anything Lauren reaches out and takes the microphone, "You should know, they aren't really dating; they're just pretending so that all of you will like them. I heard them talking about it outside of the dance studio this morning," Lauren becomes more frantic as she speaks and Penelope grabs the mic off of her.

"Karma, Amerson, is this true?" Penelope asks in a stern voice and Karma has a deer in the headlights sort of expression.

"We can explain," Karma starts out half heartedly but without really even thinking about it I step forward and interrupt her.

"If we're faking it, would I do this?" My voice comes out a little bit shaky and Karma looks up at me in confusion. Before she has the chance to say anything, or I have the chance to change my mind I grab Karma by the waist and pull her towards me. I look at Karma and go for it, a split second later she catches on and meets me halfway. I finally understand what they mean when they say there are fireworks when you kiss the right person, right now it's like the fourth of fucking July and I never want this kiss to end. After what feels like seconds and hours all at the same time, which is probably only about 40 seconds in actual time we break apart. I have to blink a few times before I can function again and I notice that they had dropped confetti, Lauren looks pissed but everyone else seems to be cheering for us.

I turn my attention back to Karma, "Whoa," Karma mumbles.

"I know," I respond, a little bit breathless.

"Way to sell it," Karma replies enthusiastically and winks at me.

_Yeah, I think I sold it a little too well. _


	5. Chapter 5

*Karma's POV*

"We need to break up and shut this whole thing down," Amerson says in finality. I wasn't totally listening to his little rant before that but those words snapped me into focus.

"What? No, we just came out as a couple yesterday; it'll give people whiplash," I turn away from the mirror and turn my attention to Amerson.

"That little bitch is threatening to tell my mom that we are a couple," Amerson huffs and I give him a sympathetic look.

"Would it really be that bad if she found out?" I ask and Amerson looks at me.

"Karma, my mom doesn't even like me being friends with you; I doubt she'd like it any better if she thought we were dating," Amerson points out and I can't help but agree.

"Okay, so maybe I came to yourself smelling of weed once; but it's not my fault my parents insisted on driving me to your house, and hugging me on departure." Amerson just laughs at the memory for a moment but he sighs and gives me that pleading look of his.

"How much longer do we need to keep this up?"

"Just until our status at Hester is cemented," I assure him but he looks sceptical.

"Karma, we are Hester High's _it_ couple_, _we're legends,"

"I promise it won't be too much longer,"

Amerson sighs again and looks at me in exasperation, "We are so not dating material, I don't know how to do this."

"Jeez, was I that bad a kisser?" I ask mockingly and he looks uncomfortable for a minute.

"It was like kissing my sister," he shrugs.

"Ouch," I laugh at whack him lightly on the arm.

"Well, it's not like you enjoyed it," Amerson defends.

"I thought you were great," I reply and Amerson's face lights up.

"Really?" He asks and I nod and make an affirmative noise.

"Now, we should get out of here before my parents decide to ambush us," I conclude as I grab my phone from the nightstand. We almost make it out but as I grab the door I hear a knock, "Too late."

Almost as soon as Penelope handed me my tiara my phone buzzed with a text message, I was kind of expecting it to be Amerson telling me if his mission to stop his mom from coming to do a story on us was a success. I am surprised when I see that it is from Liam, '_Nice tiara_,'

I look up and scan the room until I catch sight of Liam standing across the room and I type a response, '_Nice vest_,'

I see Liam smile before my phone vibrates with his response, _My car. 5 minutes.'_

I bite my lip and contemplate whether or not I should go and meet him as Liam heads for the exit. Unsure of what else to do I dial Amerson's number and after a brief conversation that ended on a rather awkward note I decide that I might as well make like a Nike ad and just do it.

Sure enough, five minutes later we are making out in the backseat of Liam's car and Liam has ditched his vest, tie and shirt.

"I've been wanting to do this for so long," Liam says as he attempts to pull off his t-shirt in the cramped space.

"Me too, wait how long exactly?" I ask as Liam continues to struggle with his shirt.

"What? Get back at Raudenfeld? Pretty much since I met him," Liam responds and tries to kiss me again but I pull back.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Raudenfeld is gonna be pissed when he finds out I got with his girl," Liam answers and goes for my lips again.

"You know what? I was into this and now I'm not, what can I say? I'm mercurial. Sorry to be a tease but I should probably get back to my boyfriend," I say in a rush and hurry out of the car leaving Liam looking confused.

Before long I am standing back inside and looking for Amerson, unfortunately the wrong Raudenfeld finds me first. Turning around to address the person that tapped me on the shoulder I'm faced with Amy's mom and a very professional looking camera.

"Mrs Raudenfeld, what are you doing here?" I ask, a smile planted on my face.

"I'm here to interview the Homecoming King and Queen dear," Farrah replies politely and looks around.

_Shit, where's Amerson? _I think to myself but relax when I catch sight of him.

He actually made quite an effort to look nice tonight. He's wearing dark jeans and black converse with simple black blazer over a black fitted t-shirt and a gold tie. The colour of the tie brings out the golden tones of his hair and I have to admit he looks nice. I'm pulled from my perusal when Amerson hurries up to us and pulls his mother away to talk to her in private. While they are talking I'm left to stand there admittedly awkwardly clutching Amerson's crown.

"So where is this adorable boyfriend of yours?" Farrah asks when she wonders back over to me. Amerson still has his back turned and is visibly tense but a moment later he straightens before turning and walking over to me. I watch as Amerson takes his crown from me places it on his head and drapes his arm over my shoulders. His mother hasn't looked at him yet so he takes a breath and addresses her,

"I'm right here, Mother," Farrah looks over at Amerson just as the cameraman informs her that they are live. She has a deer in the headlights look about her and she makes unintelligible noises for a moment before mumbling, "You and Karma? Back to you, Steve." Farrah abruptly walks off and Amerson releases a breath.

"Are you okay?" I ask as I look up at Amerson.

"Yeah, that felt really good actually," Amerson replies and looks at me for a moment.

"Wanna dance?" I nod and Amerson brings his face down to brush his nose against mine affectionately.

"I'm really proud of you Ams," I say once we are dancing slowing.

"For embarrassing my mother on live television?" Amerson asks with a smirk.

"For standing up for yourself," I clarify and Amerson nods.

"I'm proud of you too, I mean I'm not happy about who it was with but you finally became a woman," Amerson replies and I looks up at him.

"Yeah, that didn't happen," I admit and Amerson looks at me in curiosity.

"Really, why not?"

"Liam just sees me as a way to get back at you," I respond and I immediately see anger blossom in Amerson's eyes but I continue before he can say anything.

"I want my first time to be special, with someone who loves me," As soon as the words leave my mouth Amerson relaxes and rests his head on top of mine. "Which is why I'm gonna make him fall in love with me,"

_**Hey guys, I'm sorry it's been ages. Time snuck up on me I guess, this one's a little bit short but I'm bringing in a new character in the next chapter. Which should make things interesting for Karma and Amerson. Anywho, enjoy. -Zahli**_


	6. Chapter 6

*Amerson's POV*

Despite the idiotic decision on Karma's part to get Asshat Booker to fall in love with her, the rest of the homecoming celebrations were pretty much smooth sailing. Unfortunately Hester High usually doesn't remain peaceful for very long, for the moment though I'm enjoying a brief moment of peace.

When I say peace I really mean I'm in a slouching position and pestering Karma, yep, this is the life. Despite my offensive technique of small M&amp;M projectiles Karma refuses to enlighten me on the content of the song she is writing, so until she does I plan on continuing my assault.

"Stop it, buttface," Karma whines with a smile on her face.

"Not until you sing it for me," I respond without missing a beat and she sighs.

"it's not ready," Karma replies and I shrug at her.

"Since when have you ever performed songs when they are ready?" I ask and she tilts her head and sighs in exasperation.

"This one is different, I'm baring my soul. But I promise when it's finished you'll be the first one to hear it," Karma reassures me as she crawls towards me in a way that's entirely too seductive for an open courtyard before pressing her lips on mine. To be completely honest I couldn't give a damn about the song right now and if I had the option I'd never want to hear another song again if it meant that Karma would keep kissing me. When Karma pulls away it takes me a little bit to open my eyes but when I do I see Karma fiddling on her phone with the mention of Instagram, "This whole relationship of ours has really been getting me a lot of new followers, included one Liam Booker,"

"Because I'm sure he just loves seeing pictures of you macking on me," I respond dryly and Karma deflates for a second, a brief second at that.

"Well no, but the more popular I get the more he will want to be with me. I'll get him fall in love with me in no time" Karma reasons and I scoff a little.

"You don't get someone fall in love with you; they fall in love with you for who you are,"

"Well I've been me for 15 years and no one's fallen in love with me, except you," Karma points out and I give a brief, somewhat forced laugh, "Very funny."

"I'm just having fun Ams," Karma says in an apologetic tone and I turn back to look at her but my gaze catches a group of kids waving signs around. Karma must see something similar because she calls out to someone in the group as they walk by, "Hey Josh, where's the fire?"

"It's inside us, that's why we're protesting," Josh responds in excitement before squeezing an air horn.

"Not another fucking protest," I groan but Karma is eager to follow the crowd.

It's not at all surprising that when we do follow said crowd Liam Booker is at the front, directing the whole thing. For whatever reason all the students are in the midst of some ridiculous chant; that is until Penelope walks out blowing on a whistle and producing a god awful noise. In the following minutes a lady from Skwerkel informs us of donation plan that really doesn't sound all that bad, Asshat gives an inspirational speech about how they are just trying to buy us, and much to my surprise Karma delivers her own little speech which, surprise surprise, is intended to win Liam over.

After explaining as much Karma runs off to do God knows what and leaves me to my own devices, which happens to be roaming around the quad and watching all the strange happening in support of this stupid protest. One display that catches my eye in particular is Josh Hoyt playing some strange little twanging instrument and dancing around with a few other kids is an attempt at an odd sort of musical number. It's safe to say that holds my interest for just long enough to whip out a few choice facial expressions before turning on my heel with the intention of finding something more interesting to do.

At least that was the original plan, though things rarely go as planned. Instead of heading off anywhere else but here I end up running into someone, it just so happens that this someone is a familiar someone. I reach out to steady the girl that just ran into me, thankful that I'm not holding any beverages at the moment.

"We really need to stop running into each other like this," I say as the girl looks up at me.

"I'm so-hey, I know you. You're that donut shirt guy from the party," the girl responds after a moment of recognition.

"And you're the girl that was responsible for several strange looks from people believing that I had made a mess of myself," I respond and I see her lips twitch into a small smirk.

"I do believe I apologized for that," the girl points out but I continue,

"But you also tried to feel me up at one point too so that makes it a little bit better,"

The girl laughs at this and I take the opportunity to introduce myself, "I'm Amerson,"

"Allie," the girl responds and little alarms go off in the back of my mind.

"Wait, Allie as in Oliver's twin sister Allie?" I ask and when she nods I feel like kicking myself as I notice all the similarities between the two. Her lean physique, the thick brown hair, the puppy dog eyes and the most significant, and obvious factor; the black framed glasses.

"Holy crap, how did I not realize that you are basically Ollie in a wig,"

"You know Oliver? I mean, clearly you do but I have to ask," Allie asks and I find myself nodding.

"Yeah, Ollie's a pretty good friend of mine, some stubborn individuals even refer to him as my boyfriend," I respond and Allie smiles and yep, there's Ollie's smile.

"How is it I haven't met you before, properly I mean ?" I ask and Allie shrugs.

"I just enrolled at Hester, I used to go to boarding school but my parents pulled me out because apparently Ollie's not being as socially acceptable as my parent would like. So they signed me up here in hopes that I can work my twin magic and get Oliver to be a little more friendly and a little less 'on the verge of therapy'," Allie explains and I nod in understanding.

"Speaking of, what the hell is with this place anyway?" Allie asks, gesturing around us and waving her hand at Josh and his buddies.

"The workings of Hester high is much too difficult to explain in a single sitting, just know that protests are practically in the Hester curriculum," I respond.

"I take it you aren't really into this whole movement?" Allie deduces with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah no, this is more my girlfriend's kind of thing, she gets involved with school activities, I stand back and silently hate them," I reply and Allie nods.

"I don't blame you, but these people really get into it. I mean, look at that girl over there chaining herself to that door," Allie points and in the brief seconds before I turn around I pray that it isn't Karma she's talking about but unsurprisingly it is.

"That is actually my girlfriend, and I should probably go find out what is happening there," I say and gesture in that general direction.

"By all means," Allie responds and I hurry off towards what is sure to be a headache waiting to happen.

After reaching Karma and enquiring the reasoning behind the current events Karma rambles about sex volcanoes and Asshat Booker and apparently speak of the douchebag and he shall appear. After a few more tiresome minutes of Karma doting over Asshat while he is trying to get into some other girl's pants, drastic measures are taken and Karma convinces a quad full of students to participate in a hunger strike. Before I have even fully comprehended what just happened Allie appears at my side and offers me a means of escape which I happily accept.

Allie and I somehow end up in a small room full of monitors displaying the happenings of Hester High and as weirdly invasive as the whole set up is, it's actually kind of cool.

"It was easy enough to steal the keys from Ollie, and apparently after finding a few serial codes for the locks it was pretty easy for him to get them in the first place," Allie explains but she must realize how creepy all of this is because she starts mumbling that she shouldn't have brought me here, it doesn't take much to reassure her though so that's a good thing. Conversation is surprisingly easy with this girl and we continue to converse for quite some time until suddenly it's not talking anymore, it's the both of us leaning in. To be completely honest I was down for it until she pulled away and began apologizing profusely, once again I was back to reassuring her that things were indeed fine. At least until I looked at the monitor and see that Karma is centre stage with a guitar.

"Karma's singing? In front of people?" I mumble quickly that I need to leave and Allie doesn't try to stop me.

After hurrying back towards where I saw Karma performing I push my way through until I can see her and when I catch her gaze I give her a wave and smile of encouragement before I begin to enjoy the song. It's actually really sweet and the way she is looking at me I'm pretty sure who the song is about, until she looks away and I'm not so sure anymore. It takes me all of ten seconds to catch sight of who this song is really for and it takes about half that much time to turn on my heel and try to walk as far away from Asshat and from Karma as possible.

This plan works pretty well as i wind up at my locker, at least until Karma appears damn near giddy with excitement, "Oh my God that was amazing, did I sound okay? Did I look okay is a better question cause I felt like I was going to pee my pants," Karma rambles out in a single breath.

"It's a shame you didn't, I hear Booker finds that a real turn on," I bite out and Karma looks taken back.

"I thought you'd be proud of me, you know getting up there and facing my fears in front of all of those people," Karma says, her face displaying a look of confusion.

"As if all of those people matter to you, all you wanted to do was impress Liam," I respond angrily and understanding dawns on Karma's face.

"That's what this is about, you're getting jealous of Liam again,"

"I have a right to be, you'd worked so hard to get this whole school to believe that you are _my _girlfriend, yet you were just out there parading around like a little show pony to impress some other guy," I shouldn't be yelling at Karma right now but I'm so fucking sick of this Liam Booker bullshit that I can't stop myself.

"That's not what I was doing," Karma responds and her tone is calm but I can tell she is getting angry as well.

"How do you think that made me look Karma? It made me look like some idiot that can't keep his own fucking girlfriend happy enough in their relationship, I look like the useless sod that has to sit back and watch you flirt with someone else," I'm so ridiculously frustrated at this point that there could be a camera crew around us and I wouldn't give a damn.

"You know what Amerson, you need to remember that you aren't my boyfriend and so what if I'm trying to impress someone else. If you are going to get upset every time things don't go your way you are going to have a very hard time keeping a girlfriend at all, real or fake. So what if I'm trying to impress the hottest guy at school and so what if it isn't you, I'm a fucking teenage girl," Karma responds angrily before pushing past me.

I realize that I can't stop her and I run my hand through my hair in frustration before slamming my locker door shut.

"Hey, I snagged some pizza, how do you feel about Hawaiian?" Allie asks as she walks up behind me and before I really even think about it I take her face in my hands and kiss the crap out of her. When I come to my senses I pull back and look down at the dazed girl in front of me before muttering, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," I brush past her and head anywhere but here, leaving the poor girl probably horribly confused.

_**Hey guys, it's been a while again, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this chapter to be so long but all the stuff that happened sort of had to be from Amerson's perspective. Ah well, hopefully you guys with enjoy the chapter anyway, also I hope you guys like Allie. In my mind she's an adorable little munchkin of cuteness and I maybe kind of have a thing for Elise Bauman at the moment and maybe I wanted to picture her with Oliver's glasses because come on. If you don't know who Elise Bauman is you need to find out and you need to watch Carmilla and/or Young Badlands on YouTube to see her in action. Okay, now I've probably rambled enough with this. Anywho, enjoy. -Zahli **_


	7. Chapter 7

*Karma's POV*

_Don't do it, don't do it. _Despite my mind's objections my thumb taps the screen and a picture of Amerson appears as the phone dials for at least the 12th this morning, okay the 12th time this hour.

My heart sinks when I hear Amerson's voicemail message kick in, for about the 12th time this hour. At this point it should be expected and I should just give up but if I'm being honest I know that the same process is going to be repeated two minutes from now.

We've never spent this long without contact of some kind and to be honest, it hurts like hell. My anger over our argument dissipated after about five minutes of fuming and left an awful amount of guilt in its wake.

Before I have time to even talk myself out of it, my phone is dialing again. I leave a message, practically begging him to respond this time, but I end up tucking my phone away and storming over towards a juice truck that is all too familiar.

"What are you guys doing here?!" I ask in a hushed whisper and my parents stare at me as if it is the most obvious thing in the world for them to be here.

"We're selling our juice, sweetheart. What else would we be doing here?"

"You can't be here, surely there is anywhere else you could be doing this?"

"I'm afraid not, kiddo. Business on the outside hasn' t been so great, and Hester is such an accepting space that we've been selling our juice like crazy here. All we have to do is give some free samples and the crowds start flocking in," my father pipes up and gives me a soft smile that makes me feel bad for being angry in the first place.

"In fact, your friend, Liam has been doing a wonderful job of handing out the samples,"

My jaw drops when I follow my parents' line of vision and spot Liam dressed in the old Kale suit I used to wear. Liam catches sight of me the same time I make the decision to leave and the smile that he was originally greeted with drops from his face when he sees the anger on mine.

"Karma, wait," Liam calls and manages to grab a hold of my arm as I'm leaving. I tug my arm from his grasp but spin to face him.

"What do you want, Liam?"

"I want you to talk to me, I want to understand why you seem to be so mad at me at the moment," Liam replies and he looks sincerely confused.

"I'm so mad right now, because while I've been pining over you and thinking you felt the same way when really you were screwing around with someone else behind my back," I say pointedly and Liam looks even more confused before, only now he looks like a kicked puppy.

"I really don't even know what you are talking about right now, Karma,"

"After the protest, I saw you get into a limo with some other girl, don't deny it,"

"You've got to be kidding me, that's what you've been so angry about? That was my sister," Liam groans and I stop for a moment, but the recent revelation doesn't quite extinguish my anger.

"Even if you are telling the truth, Liam, this whole thing has made me realise that I can't trust you. I'm done with whatever this is, I'm done," I finally say and turn on my heel again.

"Oh, whatever, Karma. Go running to that boyfriend of yours, though I doubt you'll have much luck with him either," Liam calls out bitterly and I stop in my tracks.

"What are you talking about?" I ask and Liam smirks at me.

"You mean you haven't heard? Raudenfeld's been sniffing around the new girl, if he hasn't already bailed on you to get some of that, he will soon,"

Instead of responding I turn away again and head of with a new destination in mind, as I'm walking I wrack my brain to remember where Shane would be right now. I finally spot him talking to some people at a lunch table and I waste no time in walking up to him and grabbing him by the arm.

"I need to talk to you,"

"There are a lot nicer ways to go about it, you know?" Shane replies and brushes of his arm after I let go.

"The new girl, I need to know what her deal is," I say, getting straight to the point.

"I guessing you've heard the rumours then?" Shane assumes and I nod.

"That Amerson has been 'sniffing around' the new girl? Yeah, Liam just told me,"

"Her name is Allie, she's Oliver's twin sister," Shane starts to explain but I cut him off again.

"How come I didn't know Oliver had a sister? He's practically Amerson's other bestfriend,"

"One, I take offense to that, and Two, you've never enough about Oliver to know. Don't feel too bad about it though, Amerson didn't know about her either, most people didn't,"

"Alright, fine. Keep going," I huff and Shane smirks a little before continuing.

"She just transferred in from boarding school, some issue with Oliver and his parents. From what I've heard she seems nice, and she seems to be into all of the same things your boy is,"

"Crap, I really need to talk to Amerson," I sigh and Shane hums in thought.

"You should be quick about it too, I heard someone saw them making out yesterday,"

There's a twinge in my stomach at the mention of Amerson making out with this girl and it only makes me want to double my efforts of getting my best friend to talk to me. Or finding this girl and letting her know exactly what I think about these rumours.

"What does she look like?"

"She's tiny, around 5'2", brown eyes, long light brown hair, black rimmed glasses. She really does look like Oliver in a wig,"

"Thank you, Shane," I say as I turn to leave and Shane scoffs a little.

"Geez, that must have been hard for you to say, huh?"

I ignore him as I walk away in search of the girl that has been causing trouble that I really don't need at the moment.

As I'm walking I try calling Amerson again and I forget all about this new girl for a moment when Amerson finally picks up the phone.

**This is shorter than it should be, and it's long overdue but I got a message from a fan earlier asking if I could update so I figured I'd revisit it. I don't know when I'll update again, because I have some other stories that I am focusing on, so we'll see how I go. Thanks for sticking with me, -Zahli. **


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